'Carol' Trailer

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in the romantic drama "Carol." Set in 1952 in New York City, the Todd Haynes-directed film tells the story of a young aspiring photographer and her relationship with an older, married woman.

(Published Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015)

Will Win: "The Revenant's" bravado will match its awards tally.

Should Win: "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a visionary filmmaking coup of a different kind, and, unlike "The Revenant," Miller's raging road opera is the definite classic of the bunch.

Should Have Been a Contender: It still boggles the mind why Todd Haynes' period romance "Carol" was overlooked. It is filmmaking at its best.

Will Win: No one really knows. "The Revenant" has the momentum, but consensus is elusive. Panicked voices everywhere can be heard exclaiming "The guilds are all over the map!" In the end, I go with "The Big Short" because the Producers Guild has been the best forecaster in recent years.

Should Win: It may lack some cinematic punch, but the sturdy "Spotlight" is the closest thing we have to a new Sydney Lumet classic.

Oscars 2016: And the Nominees Are...

Should Have Been a Contender: "Carol" and "Creed." The absence here of Todd Haynes' majestic '50s dream is a glaring oversight. And it took too long for people to realize just how good Ryan Coogler's "Rocky" sequel is.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" Trailer

Should Have Been a Contender: When did we start taking the greatness of the Tarantino/Samuel L. Jackson pairing for granted? Jackson's speechifying, Lincoln-letter carrying Union soldier in "The Hateful Eight" is a performance that will live long beyond DiCaprio's tussle with that bear.

COYLE:

Will Win: DiCaprio. It's "his year," as they say. But I would love to see what lengths his Oscar crusade would go to if he didn't win. What would he eat in his next film? What animal carcass would he sleep in?

Should Have Been a Contender: Michael B. Jordan of "Creed" and 2013's "Fruitvale Station" has twice been unfairly overlooked here. But what about Al Pacino as an aged rock star in "Danny Collins"? It was one of the year's most underrated films. (And that surprised me, too.)

Should Win: Obvious grit trumps nuance at the Oscars, but Charlotte Rampling tore out many a heartstring as a jealous woman in "45 Years."

Should Have Been a Contender: Bel Powley made the sexual awakening of a teenager (with her mom's adult boyfriend no less) seem neither too exploitative nor celebratory in the criminally underseen "The Diary of a Teenage Girl."

COYLE:

Will Win: Brie Larson has this in the bag. She's a terrifically natural performer and a real talent. But, for me, she was better in "Short Term 12" than in the mawkishly manipulative "Room."

Should Win: In a strong field, Cate Blanchett slips by because of the regularity of her quality. In "Carol," she's both devastating and exhilarating.

Should Have Been a Contender: Bel Powley's hip-swinging '70s San Francisco teenager in "Diary of a Teenage Girl" was a sensational breakthrough.

Redmayne Talks Transgender Role in 'The Danish Girl'

Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne discusses his role as Lili Elbe, the first known person to undergo gender reassignment surgery. "The Danish Girl" is in theaters Nov. 27, 2015.

Will Win: Sylvester Stallone, but it'll be more about his legacy than "Creed."

Should Win: Mark Rylance made his subtlety affecting Soviet spy more lovable than Tom Hanks in "Bridge of Spies."

Should Have Been a Contender: Nicholas Hoult. It takes quite a performance to upstage the bellowing visuals of "Mad Max: Fury Road."

COYLE:

Will Win: There's potential intrigue here, but the swell around Stallone is a fitting honor for the actor who's spent three myth-making decades as Rocky Balboa.

Should Win: Mark Rylance gives "Bridge of Spies" a serene glow. The combination of him and Tom Hanks is riveting: one of the theater's greats meets one of the movies'.

Should Have Been a Contender: The thundering Idris Elba is the obvious answer for his rebel commander in "Beast of No Nation." But Michael Shannon in most things is a good answer, too, and he was in grand, imposing form in Ramin Bahrani's "99 Homes."

Will Win: Alejandro Inarritu, and it'll be deserved and an incredible achievement.

Should Win: George Miller, and it will also be deserved.

Should Have Been a Contender: There are so many this year — Ridley Scott ("The Martian") and Todd Haynes ("Carol") among them — but I would like to have seen Sean Baker in here for his incredibly inventive and utterly engaging "Tangerine."

COYLE:

Will Win: The Inarritu repeat seems to be in effect. "The Revenant" isn't shy about its filmmaking, but Inarritu's audacious long shots and ravishing frontier wilderness offer a quality hard to come by: the awe of something not seen before.

Should Win: George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a crazy puzzle of a movie trying to stretch the language of film just like "The Revenant," but in opposite directions: with rapid cutting and feverish surrealism.

Should Have Been a Contender: Andrew Haigh's "45 Years" earned a nod for Charlotte Rampling and acclaim for her co-star, Tom Courtenay. But neither would have been possible without the acutely observant eye of Haigh.